I am new to the forum.
From what I have read so far it appears to me that the primary reason AE and
FN did not make contact with the Itasca, and therefore land where they were
supposed to, was because they were not well versed enough in how to operate
the radio equipment on board, and the equipment was not totally functional.
Is this correct? I don't understand why AE was allowed to travel around the
world without having adequate instruction on the radio, or why she herself didn't
understand the importance of that. Also, if my second premise is correct, why
didn't someone take the responsibility to see that the equipment was functioning
properly? In addition, why did AE change the frequency when she was trying to
communicate with the Itasca?

Thanks.

Ted Valenti

You raise some interesting
questions Ted. It does appear that a lack of familiarity with the limitations
of their radio equipment was a factor -- perhaps a major factor -- in the flight's
failure to reach its intended destination. It is also apparent that a mechanical
failure of some kind -- either in a relay or in an antenna -- prevented them from
receiving voice transmissions.

A case can be made for
the mechanical failure having occurred during or at some time following the
takeoff from Lae, in which case the crew can only be faulted for not detecting
the problem and aborting the mission while it was still possible to return to
Lae.

The larger question you
raise is one of responsibility. Whose job was it to make sure that Earhart was
competent to make the trip? She was certainly a highly experienced and successful
long distance aviator -- indeed, one of the most famous of her day. There were
licensing requirements set, and in one case waived, by the federal government.
(Have you ever asked for a waiver, or an easement, or an exception to some government
regulation?) Ultimately, though, it was AE and Fred who decided that the Lae/Howland
flight was a reasonable undertaking. If the voice reception problem was the
result of an unforseen and difficult to detect mechanical failure that happened
enroute, then Earhart and Noonan died because they did not have sufficient skill
to overcome their bad luck. That's a balancing act that all pilots face from
time to time. There's an old saying -- "An exemplary pilot's exemplary judgement
keeps him out of situations requiring his exemplary skill." I suspect that the
other airplane drivers on the forum will agree with me that final responsibility
for the safety of any flight has to reside with the person in the left seat.
After all, the pilot is always the first one on the scene of the accident.

Earhart changed frequencies
because she wasn't getting any response on the one she had been using. I've
done the same thing countless times. In her case, she had been transmitting
on 3105 Kcs which was regarded as her "nightime" frequency because it propagates
best during the hours of darkness. She switched to 6210 kcs, her "daytime" frequency
at 08:43 local time when the sun was well up. I think that it's easy, from a
1999 perspective, to see the Lae/Howland flight as wildly risky, perhaps even
irresponsible and almost suicidal-- but I don't think it was. I think that Earhart
and Noonan both realized that there was not a lot of margin for error if the
flight was going to turn out as planned, but I think that they also knew that
the chances of being able to end the flight on land were quite good. I think
that they thought of themselves as lucky, and not without reason given the narrow
scrapes and close calls they had successfully negotiated thus far. And I don't
think that their luck completely ran out on July 2nd. I think the well was finally
dry on July 9th when the Navy search planes departed Gardner Island.

Love to mother,
Ric

Subject:

RDF
Frequencies

Date:

1/18/99

From:

Daryll
Bollinger

I have just recently finished
reading a book by John Prados titled Combined Fleet Decoded. The book examines
the war in the Pacific (WWII), incorporating secret intelligence that has not,
up until recently, been available to most historians. I found the book creditable,
with an extensive bibliography. I wanted to bring it to the attention of the Forum
because of parallel events that were occuring the same time AE was in the news.
Some might say that this is off topic but I'm not so sure. We have discussed HF/DF
on the Forum before and I wanted to pass along some notes from pg. 75 of this book.

D/F, radio direction
finder, first invented in Europe in 1907.

US Navy began experimenting
with them in 1912. First naval communication / DF station was at Bar Harbor
Maine. By 1924 there were 24 US Navy direction-finder stations operating or
under construction.

Radio technology progressed
rapidly moving into High Frequency bands, that offered longer range and higher
rates of transmission.

Coping with this technology
required a whole new generation of direction-finding equipment, innovated
at Washington's Naval Research Laboratory, where the first experimental antenna
would be installed in Jan. 1931.

The equipment reached
units after perfecting directional loop antenna on which patents were actually
issued.

Guam and Cavite Navy
Yard in the Philippines got HF/DF around May-July 1937.

By 1940 the Navy had
a HF/DF net of sixteen stations with 65 operators, all under OP-20-G.

( pg. 75).

The two types of DF antenna
that I am aware of are the "Adcock" type and the "Loop" type. I would like to
draw the attention of the Forum to note #5. This is the first time I have seen
mention of a "loop" antenna in connection with HF high frequency and Mr. Prados
mentions that "patents were issued". I think it would be interesting to review
the patent ( for the date and who holds it etc.). That brings about another
question. Patents are supposed to reveal everything, how can something that
might be secret, at the same time be patented?

Along with this Forum
posting I would like to include part of Ric's 8/17/98 Forum post titled AE's
frequencies (long).

That same day Itasca receives
this message from Coast Guard headquarters in San Francisco:

FOLLOWING INFORMATION
FROM EARHART THIS DATE QUOTE HOMING DEVICE COVERS FROM 200 TO 1500 AND 2400
TO 48 KILOCYCLES ANY FREQUENCIES NOT REPEAT NOT NEAR ENDS OF BANDS SUITABLE
UNQUOTE SUGGEST USING SUITABLE FREQUENCIES HAVING IN MIND UNCERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS
OF HIGH FREQUENCIES PERIOD USE 333 KILOCYCLES OR FREQUENCY IN THAT VICINITY
AND TRY 545 KILOCYCLES AFTER TESTS WITH STATIONS YOUR LOCALITY TO DETERMINE
WHICH IS BEST PERIOD ADVISE IF IMPOSSIBLE TO PLACE TARE 10 TRANSMITTER ON 3105
KILOCYCLES PERIOD EARHART AT LAE VIA TUTUILA EXACT FREQUENCIES SELECTED AND
ASSUME CONTINUOUS SIGNALS AFTER HER DIRECTION FINDER IN RANGE PERIOD SEE BROADCAST
ON QUARTER AFTER AND QUARTER BEFORE HOUR ON 6210 AND 3105 KILOCYCLES PERIOD
AM ADVISING EARHART THAT Itasca WILL VOICE RADIO HER ON 3105 ON HOUR AND HALF
HOUR AS SHE APPROACHES HOWLAND PERIOD REPAIRS MADE AND EARHART NOW AT SOURABAYA
EXPECTS LEAVE DAWN THIS DATE FOR PORT DARWIN AND NEXT DAY FOR LAE PERIOD ADVISE
PRIORITY IF ADJUSTMENTS TARE TEN TRANSMITTER SATISFACTORY FOR USE ON 3105

Questions:

Besides me being confused
on the frequencies and the uncertain characteristics of high frequencies, what
is the TARE TEN TRANSMITTER?

Daryll

From Ric

I'll have to let someone
else answer your question about the "tare ten" transmiiter, but I think I can
help clear up some confusion about the above message by breaking it down and
paraphrasing it.

FOLLOWING INFORMATION
FROM EARHART THIS DATE QUOTE HOMING DEVICE COVERS FROM 200 TO 1500 AND 2400
TO 48 KILOCYCLES ANY FREQUENCIES NOT REPEAT NOT NEAR ENDS OF BANDS SUITABLE
UNQUOTE

Remember, this is CG headquarters
in San Francisco advising Itasca of information they have received:

"Today we received this
information from Earhart - 'Our homing device (DF) covers frequencies from 200
to 1500 kcs and 2400 to 4800 kcs. You can transmit to us on any frequencies
not, repeat not, near ends of bands.'

SUGGEST USING SUITABLE
FREQUENCIES HAVING IN MIND UNCERTAIN CHARACTERISTICS OF HIGH FREQUENCIES PERIOD
USE 333 KILOCYCLES OR FREQUENCY IN THAT VICINITY AND TRY 545 KILOCYCLES AFTER
TESTS WITH STATIONS YOUR LOCALITY TO DETERMINE WHICH IS BEST PERIOD

"It sounds to us like
Earhart may not understand that that it's a bad idea to try to DF on high frequencies.
Check some lower frequencies and see what works best in your locality."

ADVISE IF IMPOSSIBLE TO
PLACE TARE 10 TRANSMITTER ON 3105 KILOCYCLES PERIOD

self explanatory.

This next bit got garbled.
It should read:

ADVISE EARHART AT LAE
VIA TUTUILA EXACT FREQUENCIES SELECTED AND ASSUME CONTINUOUS SIGNALS AFTER HER
DIRECTION FINDER IN RANGE PERIOD

"Send a message to Earhart
in Lae - via the radio station in Tutuila, Samoa - telling her the exact frequencies
you have selected based on ther tests recommended above. Once her direction
finder is in range, start sending out continuous signals on those frequencies."

SEE BROADCAST ON QUARTER
AFTER AND QUARTER BEFORE HOUR ON 6210 AND 3105 KILOCYCLES PERIOD

Probably a mistake in
reception. Should read "She will broadcast on quarter hour..." etc.

AM ADVISING EARHART THAT
Itasca WILL VOICE RADIO HER ON 3105 ON HOUR AND HALF HOUR AS SHE APPROACHES
HOWLAND PERIOD

"San Francisco is advising
Earhart that Itasca will send voice radio to her on 3105 on the hour and the
half hour as she approaches Howland."

REPAIRS MADE AND EARHART
NOW AT SOURABAYA EXPECTS LEAVE DAWN THIS DATE FOR PORT DARWIN AND NEXT DAY FOR
LAE PERIOD

"The repairs being made
in Bandoeng, Java were completed and Earhart has now flown to Sourabaya and
expects to leave at dawn today for Port Darwin, Australia and the next day for
Lae."

ADVISE PRIORITY IF ADJUSTMENTS
TARE TEN TRANSMITTER SATISFACTORY FOR USE ON 3105

"We really want you to
be able to use the tare ten transmitter to talk to Earhart on 3105. Be sure
and let us know that you can do that."

It seems pretty clear
from the above that there is no intention here to test any HF/DF with Earhart.
In fact, headquarters is specifically telling Itasca to find out what low frequencies
work best and tell Earhart that Itasca will be using those frequencies.

LTM,
Ric

Subject:

RE:
DF Frequencies

Date:

1/19/99

From:

Randy
Jacobson

The 10 Tare Transmitter
is one of the three transmitters aboard Itasca, and it is best suited for high
frequency voice communications.

Subject:

Noonan
Memo

Date:

1/19/99

From:

Ric
Gillespie

By popular demand, here
is Fred Noonan's memo on the navigation of the Clipper flight to Hawaii in 1935:

DATE: April
29, 1935

TO:

Operations
Manager

FROM:

Navigator, Pan American Clipper

Pacific
Division

Operations

Alameda,
Calif.

Alameda, Calif.

SUBJECT:

Hawaiian Flight of NR 823-M

April 16-17 and 22-23, 1935

Navigation

Surface navigation is known, to the profession, as an inexact science.
Frequent groundings of vessels equipped with the most modern navigational
equipment, and manned by officers highly skilled in their profession, justifies
this description of the art.

The factors which contribute to inaccuracies in surface navigation - currents
other than anticipated or estimated, lack of sights, inaccurate radio bearings,
etc. - are all encountered in aerial navigation and commonly in intensified
form. Hence is it impossible on an extended flight to obtain consistently
accurate "fixes" by any single method, or by any combination of methods.
But by an understanding of the weaknesses of each method, it should be possible
to greatly minimize the errors inherent in all of them.

An analysis of the navigation of the NR 823-M during the flights from Alameda
to Honolulu and return reveals some interesting information. Pointing out,
as it does, weaknesses of the different methods, and human errors possible,
it can be of assistance in formulating navigational procedure tending to
minimize both.

The inaccuracies of direction finding bearings can be very definitely cataloged:
twilight effects, faint signals, wide splits of minima, and inaccurate calibration.
The latter, being of a temporary nature, may be ignored. The error, due to
twilight effects, may be negligible and again so erratic as to render the
bearings valueless. This seems to be substantiated by bearings plotted on
the two charts covering the flight. Reference to the westbound chart will
show that bearings from Alameda during the evening twilight period were consistently
steady. On the return trip, bearings from Kaneohe Peninsula during the twilight
period were very erratic. Afterwards they steadied up considerably. Inasmuch
as the ship was on approximately the same bearing at all times, the error
would not seem to be due entirely to inaccurate calibration.

Under conditions such as existed when leaving Oahu; that is, bearings generally
showing a large set off the track, no means of checking drift angle, and
the only heavenly body visible affording no means of determining change of
latitude, the navigator must rely upon his judgment. In the instance mentioned,
after obtaining a line of position from the sun at 0340 G.C.T., a glance
showed that if the 0328 bearing were advanced to cross the line of position
the ship would be considerably ahead of her D.R. position for the short time
out from land. Doubting the ship was making the drift and speed so indicated,
the course was maintained.-Subsequent bearings and sights showed the ship
to be to the southward, rather than the northward, of her required track.

With respect to faint signals and wide splits of minima, the plotted long
range bearings straddled the ship's position fairly equally; hence, a mean
of such bearings should give the navigator a fair bearing from the station.

Another condition which may cause the navigator to be doubtful of his exact
position is such as existed during the return flight while between the 45th
and 155th meridians. Sights consistently showed the ship to be to the southward
of the original great circle track. Some few D.F. bearings agreed with the "fixes" so
obtained, but the majority placed the ship varying distances to the northward.
Due to the facts that the observations were made during slightly rough air
conditions, and that the bearings, although generally placing the ship to
the northward, were not uniform, it was at first difficult to definitely
decide which method was more reliable. During this period, to minimize any
divergence from the required track, it was assumed the ship was on a track
approximating the mean of the two methods.

Subsequent observations were made under smoother flying conditions, and
they, plus additional D.F. bearings and the courses and distances flown,
showed the earlier "fixes" to have been approximately correct. By "approximately
correct", accuracy within ten to fifteen miles is implied. The writer's experience
has shown that a "fix" within that distance of the true position is about
the average accuracy which can be expected in aerial navigation.

It is impossible to lay down hard and fast rules by which one may determine
the reliability of observations. However, after some experience a navigator "senses" whether
or not a sight is reliable. If the ship is noticeably in horizontal flight,
differences in a run of altitudes and times are fairly uniform, and, if the "feel" of
good sights exists, the resultant "fix" will in all probability be more accurate
than a position determined by long range D.F. bearings. Successive "fixes" in
agreement should definitely establish the ship's position, irrespective of
other indications; such as, D.F. bearings, to the contrary.

If observations are not reliable, the fact should be readily discernable
by the lack of agreement in
"fixes".

Illustrative of the degree of error possible when sights are taken under
adverse conditions is the 1124 G.C.T. "fix" on the eastbound chart, determined
by observations of *Polaris and *Altair. These sights were obviously unreliable
and consequently were discarded, but were plotted on the chart for demonstration
purposes. During the hours between approximately 0900 and 1200 G.C.T., it
was difficult to obtain reliable sights due to the movement of the plane.
Under such conditions a record of the ship's position must be obtained by
a combination of dead reckoning and the mean bearing determined by any group
of D.F. bearings.

In connection with the difficulty experienced in taking observations while
the plane was not in smooth flight, it was interesting to note that much
more reliable observations were obtained while the ship was flown manually
than was possible while the robot pilot was used. Also, that better results
were obtained from observations of bodies nearly ahead or astern than from
bodies abeam.

The human error, which is difficult to eliminate, and for which no "mean" can
be determined, was also apparent. The first instance concerned the intercept
for the observation of *Sirius at 0427 G.C.T. on the westbound flight. The
observed altitude of this star was less than the computed altitude, hence
the intercept should have been applied away from, or to the eastward of,
the assumed position. By error it was applied to the westward. The position
obtained by reason of this error confirmed the estimated ground speed. But
for the error, the decrease in ground speed would have been apparent at that
time and subsequent D.F. positions would have been more accurate.

A somewhat similar error was made by the Radio Operator. This consisted
of incorrect application of the goniometer calibration correction to bearings
taken on either or both of the steamships "Malolo" and "Monterey" at approximately
1200 G.C.T. during the westbound flight. The resulting incorrect bearings
gave a position so obviously wrong they were discarded.

Although such errors are made under all conditions,, it is believed a reduction
of paper work during flight would tend to reduce such errors. Such reduction
of paper work could be obtained by shortening the position reports to a statement
of latitude, longitude, track desired, and ground speed, and leaving the
compilation of the log data (excepting cloud formations) to be completed
on the ground after each flight. The information necessary to do this could
be obtained from the flight engineer's report.

A very definite check on ground speed may be obtained by goniometer D.F.
bearings of surface vessels when abeam or nearly so. Short distance bearing
obtained by the goniometer proved to be very reliable, but distant bearings
- for example, from Los Angeles - were not accurate.

An Analysis of the entire navigational data of the subject flights indicates
that it is impossible to determine consistently accurate positions during
extended over-water flight, but that a degree of accuracy which will insure
safe navigation and reasonably direct tracks may be obtained by careful consideration
of existing conditions when utilizing dead reckoning, radio direction finding,
or celestial navigation. With respect to the errors in the D.F. bearings,
if they can be kept within the limits of those appearing in the bearings
received from Alameda during both stages of the flight, they may be considered
as negligible. While the use of bearings will not insure extreme accuracy
in navigation, they are nevertheless of inestimable value and will always
serve as a dependable homing device.

F. J. Noonan

Subject:

Coconuts
and Survival

Date:

1/23/99

From:

Ted Whitmore

Amen to Chuck Boyle's info
on coconuts on Jan 16. While in Hawaii before going to the Phoenix Island Loran
chain we went through sea/jungle survival school. They taught that coconut trees
could provide everything a person needs to survive indefinitely.

Good drinking water comes
from green coconuts - they have a goodly supply of water with a dilute coconut
flavor (very good) and at that stage the meat inside the nut is gelatinous and
quite tasty as well as nutritous. The heart bud of the trees is a great vegetable,
eaten raw or cooked. The trick is cutting the heart out of a live tree (killing
it of course).

The meat of the ripe coconut
is firm but moist, sweet and nutritous. It is easily 'snapped' out of the shell
with a knife blade or grated out with a hard coconut inner shell with some teeth
cut into it. BUT, too much of that treat will give you the potty trots. Grated
and twisted in a piece of cloth or handful of fiber from coconut husks you can
extract a delicious fluid 'creamy milk' and the dry gratings can be roasted
and brewed into a tasty coffee like drink, creamed, of course with the 'creamy
milk' extract.

Dried, the meat of the
coconut is 'copra', a major export from many coconut rich areas of the tropics.
Oil is pressed from the dried meat and is widely used in many food items and
industrial applications. Shredded coconut meat we are all familiar with in culinary
uses but has gone somewhat out of favor because of cholesterol content and we
don't have a good substitute. Nor can you make coconut cream pie without grated
coconut.

You should see a Polynesian
man climb a coconut tree to harvest one or two nuts of the right degree of ripeness.
sometimes climbing 40 to 60 ft. in a matter of 15 to 20 seconds. The coconuts
are twisted to break them loose from their stem in the cluster, then held upright,
given a twist so they will fall straight to the ground to land on their blossom
end and not break open when they hit.

Palm leaves are split
from end to end (just grab the outer tip leaves and pull them apart) pieces
are woven together and form the major wall coverings for thatched houses but
are not as good for thatched roofing as the leaves of the pandanus which also
grows abundantly on the islands.

As Chuck said, the hard
inner shell is easily made into charcoal and is their primary fuel for cooking
fires. After a cook fire has done its job they just add dried shell to the fire,
cover it with coral rocks to keep the fire from flaming and ola! charcoal when
it's time to cook again. The hard inner shells can be made into fishhooks, polished
and made into costume jewelry, etc.

Excellent twine is made
from fibers combed from the other husk of the coconuts and is used for everything
from fishing lines to bindings for house construction and assembling outrigger
canoes.

And yes, coconuts float
great distances on the oceans and will sprout and grow a tree wherever the tides
cast them up on land. Ah yes, another good food item: a sprouted coconut with
just a couple of feet of frond showing when split open will be filled inside
with a spong textured mass of what used to be the meat of the nut. Very tasty,
'coconut bread'.

But getting coconuts down
to the ground and getting the outer husk removed is a major problem unless you
have a good sheath knife or hatchet or can fashion and figure out how to use
the sharp stob the natives use so deftly to remove the inner nut in about 10
seconds. You'll work long and hard before you learn to deftly extract the nuts.

Best wishes to all,

Ted Whitmore

Subject:

Re:
Coconuts and Survival

Date:

1/24/99

From:

Tom
King

Great list of the many
uses of the coconut, Ted. No doubt AE and FN could have survived for a long
time on coconuts (and fish, crabs, and all the other goodies that Niku can supply),
IF (a) there was a goodly supply of coconuts on a goodly supply of trees (not
at all certain), and IF (b) they could get past the problem with which you conclude
your note:

"But getting coconuts
down to the ground and getting the outer husk removed is a major problem unless
you have a good sheath knife or hatchet or can fashion and figure out how
to use the sharp stob the natives use so deftly to remove the inner nut in
about 10 seconds. You'll work long and hard before you learn to deftly extract
the nuts."

True, and you also need
to be able to climb the tree, which I know from experience is no mean feat for
someone who doesn't grow up doing it. There were a couple of people on the '89
expedition who learned to do it, more or less, but only with instruction from
our Fijian crew, and their progress was pretty terrifying to watch. The injuries
one could sustain trying to get and open coconuts are many and various, and
as we all know, injuries (particularly those that break the skin) are a real
serious problem on a tropical island without antibiotics. It's not hard to imagine
AE and FN GETTING coconuts to eat and drink from, but at the cost of life-ending
injuries.

Tom King

From Ric

During the 1989 trip our
I-Kiribati representative was distressed to receive a radio message from home
that his brother had been paralyzed in a fall from a coconut tree (he recovered).

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